I Can Only Adore the Designs of God

The Life of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

I Can Only Adore the Designs of God

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Kaskasia, Michigamea, Cahokia—strange-sounding Indian names peppered the priest’s conversation as he sat in the Duchesnes’ study in France and told of his work in far away North America.

As young Philippine listened to Father Jean-Baptist Aubert, a new desire began to burn in her heart: to be a missionary among the Native Americans. Little did she realize that it would take more than sixty years for her dream to be fulfilled. Many thwarted hopes and deferred dreams marked the long course of her life, but Rose Philippine Duchesne learned to recognize and embrace in these disappointments the plans God had for her.

Under the Shadow of a Revolution. Philippine was born in 1769 into the respectable and civic-minded Duchesne family in Grenoble, in a French province bordered by the Alps. When she was eighteen, she entered the Visitation convent, Sainte-Marie-d’en-Haut. But just as Philippine was preparing to make her final vows, her father refused to give his permission because he was concerned about her future safety.

Monsieur Duchesne’s…

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Comments (Join the discussion)

  1. throughthefire's avatar
    throughthefire

    This Saint gives me great5 hope that God’s seniors are important to Him and His church

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